Balto and the White Wolf
by Wolflux
Summary: Prequel to the Balto movie. It revolves around Balto's childhood and how he met Steele and Boris for the first time, his reunion - and separation of his father, and more.


**Balto and the White Wolf**

_The White Wolf moved swiftly through the forest, concealed from curious eyes by the snow, only visible when she passed one and another tree. The snowflakes around her seemed to dance around her, and the wind was blowing gently, helping her towards her destination. She was a big Wolf, as white as snow. Her voice was as soft as the snow which she stepped on, and her fur almost felt like it was made of the finest silk._

_Right now, she didn't move with the ease she was known of; her movements were strained and heavy and even her fur seemed strained, as it had become raggy, and she was in great pain. But finally; a small and abandoned den! She hurried into it, it was a tight fit considering the size of her belly, and laid down on the floor. Sleep was to be denied her this night, but that is nature's sacrifice, for performing the ever-fantastic creation of life._

"**Father, is that you?"**

Summertime had arrived, and the forest was lightened up by the sunlight. Polar bears were doing their business in the water, and the birds did theirs. But in the deepest parts of the forest one could hear barking and howling.

"Come on, slowpokes!" A young gray wolf, probably not older than a few months, raced against his siblings. This wolf was naturally raggy, and was, if possible, even more wolf-like than his brothers and sisters. They were racing for fun, this time, and as usual, this wolf won with ease. He laughed a little, and peered at his exhausted siblings, whom, unlike him, had become exhausted by running as far as they had.

"Balto, that's unfair!" whined one of them. "You always win because you have longer feet and bigger paws than us!" whined another. Balto really disliked that they blamed his body, and not his abilities. Sure, if he had heard 'You always win because you're so good, and much faster than us!', then surely, he would have howled in joy. His siblings denied this to him, however. He grunted and walked away from them. 'Who needs 'em?' he thought.

Balto was relatively big, compared to his siblings, but that was his legs' fault, and only that. He had gotten hints of white socks on his legs too, and this worried him; he wouldn't look like anything else than a dog if he didn't have a pure-coloured fur. He had spoken to his mother about it, but she just told him she didn't know.

But other than that, he looked at himself as pure; purebred wolf.

"Balto, where are you?"

His mother called him, and on instinct he began moving towards the voice, although he wanted to move further away from his siblings. "I'm coming, Mom!" he barked as he ran. 'Wow, have I really moved this far from home without noticing?' he wondered, but soon he saw his mother, and his sibling waiting for him.

"What is it, Mom?" he asked her. Aniu smiled. "Remember when you asked about your father, Balto?"

He nodded.

"Well, we are going to see him today. You don't want to miss that, no?" she said. Maybe she didn't notice it, herself, but Balto could see how excited she really was. In his own mind, he didn't even want to meet his father; after all, he had not ever known him, and what if he was a mean wolf? There were so many things Balto feared, but he hadn't seen his mother so happy in weeks, and something inside him told him to come with her.

Balto shook his head, and put on a smile. "No, I don't! Let's go!"

Aniu chuckled a bit. Her son was growing to become a fine wolf. And off they went.

About two hours later, the scent of humans hit Balto's nose and he whined. It smelled badly!

"What is it, Balto?" asked one of the siblings, and his mother eyed him carefully.

"Humans. I smell humans... Shouldn't we hide?" he asked. Aniu shook her head.

"No, my son. The scent of humans is a sign that we are close to your father."

Huh? Balto was even more confused now (he often referred to it as confuzzled, since he found that version of the word more funny). His father, a wolf... is living close to humans? But that's dangerous!

"Mom!" he whined. "Let's go away! I'm scared!"

But Aniu kept moving towards the scent, and Balto could not, but follow her. He wasn't ready to be separated from his mother just yet, and the mere thought of it made him so sad, his heart felt like it would explode.

Soon, they walked into a big open area, and... a bit away from them, there were strange trees! Square-shaped trees?

"What is that?" asked one of his siblings for him, and he was glad she had. He did not want to bother his mother further.

Aniu shook her head. "I don't know, sweetie. I'll call your father."

Then she raised her gaze up to the skies, and peered at the clouds for a moment. Then she felt an unmistakeable urge to let out a giant howl, and the feeling in her throat was unbearable, until she let it loose; a great soft howl, loud enough to be heard even many miles away, yet so soft and caring at the same time. Balto couldn't help, but admire that sound. He wanted to howl like that too, one day.

Then, for Aniu, the feeling faded; leaving nothing but an empty desire to howl again. But she couldn't manage another howl; the howl itself had disappeared from her. So, she simply lay down in the snow, and waited.

About thirty minutes, or so, passed before yet another scent was closing in on them. Balto widened his eyes, mostly in fear. The scent bore the smell of dog.

"Mom, there's a dog running towards us! We have to run!" he called out, but his mother didn't move an inch. He whined loudly now, trying to push his mother up, but she ignored his efforts. Balto was getting desperate now, and he lost control, and bit his mother in her front leg, and tugged. Aniu yelped, and knocked him away, and a hard glare from her prevented Balto from doing that again. The poor pup lay down on the snow, his ears lying backwards on his head, and he did as his mother did; waited.

Suddenly, Aniu stood up from the ground and she walked calmly towards the dog and ... Balto couldn't believe his eyes; his mother was actually licking the dog! As if they loved each other!

Carefully, he crawled forward to his mother, and hid behind her. His siblings did the same; they all feared the dog.

"Aw c'mon, Aniu! Did you raise them to be scared of me?" the dog said, and he sounded quite surprised, if not a bit disappointed. Aniu simply shook her head.

"No, my love. But we had a... incident with some of the town dogs, about a month ago."

The dog nodded; he understood.

"Mom..." whined Balto. "Can we go see father now?"

He kept his eyes on the dog, eyeing his every move as he said this. Aniu peered at him and his siblings with quite a confused spark in her eyes.

"Balto, this 'dog' IS your father..." she said simply. The world seemed to crash down on top of the pup's head as he heard this. So, he wasn't a purebred wolf after all...

The truth of this hurt him much more than any wound he could receive; he was a half-breed... a mutt.

"**What am I?"**

Balto stared at his father. He couldn't believe it, yet it seemed so logical. The socks on his legs; they were almost the same as his father's. And he had his nose, and his eyes. Even his fur was coloured like his father's. Only, unlike him, his father was a Husky, and had a curled tail and some more white marks on his fur. His jaw dropped a bit, and his father peered at him.

"Hey, son... you alright?" he asked. This seemed to shake Balto back to reality, and he almost shook his head, but changed his mind quickly, and nodded.

"Yeah, I am fine..." Balto said, looking a little away, almost unable to hide his disappointment. He had expected his father to be a great wolf, and discovering his real heritage had hurt him...

"Balto... Look at your father, and tell me what you see..." His mother nudged him gently. So, Balto did just that, and stared at his father for some time. His siblings had already grown to like their father, and were already snuggling with him. However, no matter how much Balto tried, all he saw was a dog. Not his father. Aniu started to worry a bit.

"Mom... I see... a dog. A dog, not my father..." he finally said. His father, Cheroo, sighed heavily at this.

"I'm sorry you see it that way, son." He said. "Aniu, should we – huh?"

Aniu had suddenly disappeared, and it was like she never was there. The pups stopped moving, and stared at the empty spot where their mother had just been, and most of them started to whine, soon ending up crying. Cheroo tried to soothe them, but he couldn't. Nor could he leave the pups here all by themselves too, so he took them with him back to the town. Balto followed; he knew that he couldn't run and look for his mother all by himself... and he had a feeling that forced him to follow his father. Looking back one more time, he turned his tail to the forest, and began running after the rest.

Cheroo wasn't owned by anyone, so naturally he took them to his own home; a nice little hut at the beach. It was warm and nice, and all of the pups lay down in a pile on the floor, trying to soothe the others, and receive comfort. Only Balto did not seek their comforting presence; he was sitting outside the hut, in the snow, staring at the moon. He wasn't sure how to feel. His mother had left him and his siblings in the paws of their father, who they didn't even know... or trust.

He, himself, was still shocked about finding out, who his father is, and now he, the strongest of the litter, now had the responsibility that the others were safe.

At least he felt it that way...

As the weeks passed, Balto's siblings seemed to get more and more depressed. They just got thinner and thinner, and they refused to eat. Soon, they would die of starvation.

Balto managed to cope well enough, however. He hunted for his siblings, but always ended up having to eat the food himself, so it wouldn't get bad. Because of this, he kept his weight stable.

But there came a time when he returned from his hunt, to find his father grieving over something. He wailed, unable to suppress his grief, and Balto walked over to him, and saw his siblings lying motionless on the floor. He carefully nudged one of them, but there was no response. They were still breathing, but... their spark of life had been extinguished, and their heartbeat slowly faded.

Tears came to his eyes, and he stayed with his siblings for hours, trying to keep them as comfortable as possible. But then one of them lost its grip on life, and one after another they all lost it. All which was left of them now, were empty shells, which would no longer move.

Balto left them, knowing that they were at a better place now, but sad that he never got to know them for any longer than six months. Life would be very empty from now on.

Yet again, Balto spent many nights outside, grieving, wanting to howl all the pain and sorrow away, yet it would not come. He could not howl, and he tried and tried.

One day, his father left on a trip with some musher, and Balto watched them leave. He had said his goodbye, and best wishes to him, and now he only hoped that his father would return safely. But he wasn't sure about anything now... he was rather insecure, and did no longer care for himself. He didn't want to be alone; he wanted to be with other dogs, or wolves... even humans would have been satisfying now.

So he ventured into Nome, for the first time of his life. At first, the big wooden creatures were frightening, but he soon figured out that they were not living, and humans and dogs walked in and out of their strange mouths without being eaten. Here was a completely new world. And there was this big wooden creature on the far end of the town too. It was coloured white, and was much bigger than the rest of the creatures.

Slowly, he ventured towards an open door, and there were scents of dogs in there. Closing in, he heard small barking and growling; dogs talking.

He peered inside.

"– and that's why we cannot follow the sled team! We cannot allow our mushers to take us with them. We aren't numbered enough to afford losing yet another team!"

"You're wrong, Togo! We must find Cheroo's team before it is too late! It is our duty as sled – "

"Do not speak to me about duty, Champ! I know our duty well enough, and that duty is to serve the humans as companions and sled dogs... -alive-."

"Togo, listen; surely, our duty is to serve man, alive as you say, but there is a musher on Cheroo's team as well, and is he not human?"

"Brego, I know... do you think I am making this decision light-heartedly?"

Brego lowered his head. "No..." he finally answered.

Brego was an Alaskan malamute, black and whitely coloured. His tail was completely black, and his chest too, although there was a white diamond-shaped pattern of white to mix in with that blackness. Other than that, he was completely white. Together with him was a small pup; one which looked similar to him, but he had a white chest, black shoulders and some more white patterns on his back.

Champ was a small Alaskan husky, brown in colour (pure brown), curly tail and rather big paws. Her face was slim and she had a small scar, going over her left eye and a bit longer fur than the average husky.

Togo, however, was an Alaskan malamute as well, but he was brownish black. His face was big and muscular, and the fur changed colour from black on the top to brown on the lower part of him on the middle of his nose. It looked like it just changed; no blending at all. He had yellow eyes, and a longer tail than most.

Balto listened to the conversation, but he couldn't make out any sense of it. Mostly because he did not know his father's name thoroughly, so he knew him only as "Father". Then suddenly Togo turned his head towards the open door, and Balto quickly hid his head.

"Who's out there?"

Balto almost cursed. He had been discovered.

"Show yourself!"

Darn, he didn't have a choice. So he peered slowly into the room again, careful and wary of the other dogs.

"Why, it's just a pup!" exclaimed Togo, relieved. "Have to admit you scared me a bit."

Champ moved over towards Balto, whom crouched down on his belly, ears flat, and peered up at the enormous dog towering above him.

"Togo, he doesn't look like a normal dog. Look at his paws, and size. I've never seen him before." She said.

"Come on, Champ. Push him inside; he must be freezing."

"Alright..."

She carefully grabbed Balto by the scruff, and dragged him slowly into the room, but Balto shook her off.

"I can walk myself, thank you..." he carefully mumbled, and moved a bit further into the room, and laid down on the floor. Champ simply chuckled and walked back to the group.

"Say, kid... what is your name?" Togo asked the pup, tilting his head a bit to the left. Balto seemed reluctant to reveal his name, but ultimately he mumbled "Balto..."

"Balto?"

Champ and Brego mumbled a bit between themselves, but didn't say anything out loud. Balto swallowed a bit. These dogs scared him, and he didn't know if they had friendly intentions or not. Possibly Togo might've known that the pup didn't feel welcome here, or not, but he walked to Balto and sat down beside him.

"You know, young one, you should come and sit by us at the fire. It is much warmer there." He said, and winked at Balto. If it was just a tactic to get Balto more comfortable, it worked. He looked up at the dog, and he felt a bit happier.

"Y – Yes. Yes, of course." He answered, his voice a bit more cheerful, and he did as told. Sitting down comfortably by the fire, he peered around. This creature was big inside, and it was quite... woodly. He almost giggled at the word he just made up. _Woodly_.

"How much did you hear of our meeting, young friend?"

This time, Brego was the one speaking. The pup beside him stared at Balto, seemingly quite jealous of this newcomer getting all the attention now. Balto could only stutter forth "I – I... not much."

Togo peered at Brego, and the mere gaze made the Malamute stop with the 'interrogation'. Surely, Balto felt uncomfortable, but these dogs showed friendliness to him that he had not experienced with strangers in his entire life. He felt like he could trust them, but they didn't trust him. The very thought of it made him sad. Why were the other dogs so wary around him? He had not done anything to make them act like they did, have he not?

"I – I apologize... Please, I will just leave..." he stuttered. Champ eyed him searchingly. "Alright, Balto... Have a good day, then." She mumbled.

Balto got up from the floor, and headed for the exit. He was tired now, and needed rest. For some reason, however, he felt a small sting of regret and loss. _What am I? And where is my father?_

"**I feel stronger!"**

Night came upon the town of Nome, and Balto headed back to the place he called home. Somehow, he was hoping his father would wait for him, but he also knew, deep down, that he wouldn't be there.

But when he arrived, an unfamiliar scent caught his attention, and he turned around. Right there, behind him, Brego's pup stood, eyeing him carefully.

"What do you want?" Balto called out to the pursuer, who moved up to his side.

"What? Me? I want to be friends!" he answered. Balto peered suspiciously at him, and the pup smiled.

"I'm Steele." He introduced himself. Balto's ears perked a bit; Steele was a cool name. He thought he might like this guy.

"I'm Balto, as you heard earlier. I – it's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, I know. Say, wanna play?"

Steele snickered. It rhymed, and how he loved it when he made a funny one.

Balto's face seemed to lighten a bit and he smiled. "Sure; let's play tag! You have it!" he barked and pounced Steele with his paws, and began running. They played tag for some hours, before they were both exhausted. They rolled around in the snow, laughing.

"Wow... that was so fun!" Steele exclaimed. Balto nodded, and then they burst out laughing again. Steele had become Balto's first friend.

"Son, what are you doing out here?" a voice called out from behind them, all of a sudden. Steele peered around, confused for a moment, before realizing that it was his dad, Brego, who had called. "Uh-oh... Uhm, Dad. Hi... I was just about to head home... Errr, meet Balto, Dad. He's my new friend!"

Steele was looking for words, but they came out all wrong and he sounded like he had just been caught stealing meat from the slaughterhouse. His father looked from him, then to Balto, and then back on him. Steele's ears fell flat on his head, and he whimpered a bit.

"Come on, son! I won't allow you to even be in the presence of this mutt..." Brego growled.

"He smells wolf long way..."

Steele turned his head and peered at Balto, his eyes saying "I'm sorry..." before he turned tail and followed his father.

Balto followed them with his eyes until they were out of sight, before crawling into a nearby boat. Wreckage, it looked like. He was tired, and mentally beaten. Was he not allowed to befriend other dogs, because of his heritage?

But he was not allowed to think anymore. At least, maybe fate wanted to torture the poor pup with restlessness, agony and loneliness.

His ears perked; there was a snoring sound inside the wreckage. It smelled good, too. Carefully, he sniffed the wood, and it smelt rotten; not the scent he had caught. He moved around the wrecked boat, and then he stepped on a plank. It leads to the top of the big and dead creature, and he carefully moved up it. The snoring became louder, and he knew instinctively that he was approaching whatever made that noise quickly. And there, inside the small hut on the top of the boat, he saw movement. He moved swiftly behind something, hiding. What was this strange thing? Something left of this creature was alive?

Balto carefully took a sniff in the air. It smelled good, indeed, and it was alive. Then suddenly, the thing made a strange noise. Balto jumped a bit, but made no sound. Ultimately, he figured he couldn't go on like this forever, so he then decided to walk over to the thing, and nudge it with his muzzle, and see what reaction it would trigger.

And so he did. He snuck over to the thing, and nudged it softly. It moved a bit, and something brushed his nose. It tickled, and he sneezed. "Atchoo!"

The thing suddenly started screaming wildly, and flew up in the air, only to hit the roof and fall down on the floor again. Balto backed away. This thing was wild and dangerous!

The creature made some screeching hoarse noises, but didn't fly away for some reason. Strange.

"Oh, ay! Oh, the poweh of th' holy burds, Ai am going to be eaten, bai a wulf!" it exclaimed. Balto shook his head, and backed away further. It was speaking!

"No, I'm not going to eat you!" Balto yelped, shaking his head. But the bird wouldn't listen.

"Ai am not goin' down, without ah fight!" he yelled, and threw himself over Balto, who could easily avoid the angry wings and the pecking beak, but he was too frightened now, and whined loudly, yelping whenever he was hit!

"Hey, hey! Stop that! Ouch! Stop!" he yelled, and all of a sudden, the blows disappeared. The bird stood at a safe distance now, eyeing him.

"Wat haf Ai done? 'Tis just a pup!" the bird exclaimed, rubbing his forehead.

"Mai, mai, what ah mess..."

Balto was still lying on the floor, whimpering. Why did the bird fly at him in that way?! He couldn't understand.

But this was too much for him, and tears flowed out of his eyes as he began wailing.

"Noh, noh! Don' crai, mai friend! Ai apologise!" the bird said, hurrying over to the crying pup.

He laid his wings on the wolfdog's back and stroked it gently, but there was no stopping him.

"I'm not welcome anywhere! Nobody wants me!" the pup cried out. With all that had been happening in his life; his mother's disappearing, his father also disappearing, his siblings, and the adult dog taking away his first friend, he simply couldn't stand it anymore. He wailed all of his feelings out of him, and the bird didn't know, so he couldn't help either.

Balto cried for hours, and the bird had seen no choice, but to take him inside and put a blanket around him.

When he finally calmed down, the bird had gotten a small bowl of water for him, and placed it down in front of the pup.

"H'ere, pup. Drink t'is." He said, sitting down beside Balto. Balto took a deep, shaking breath, but the thirst was unbearable, and he began drinking.

"You t'ink you could tell me your name, pup? Ai am Boris... but mai friends are calling me; Boris."

The goose eyed Balto carefully; he was still pretty afraid of this canine, but he didn't care much about that now. The pup had pretty much shown that he was harmless.

Balto licked up some more water, before lying down again, looking away.

"Even if I told you my name, you will just leave me... like everyone else." He whispered. Boris shook his head.

_What has happened to t'is pup?_he thought.

"Noh, mai friend. Ai won't leave you."

Boris almost felt himself regret his choice of words, but obviously, this pup needed someone to take care of him.

"My name is Balto..." he heard the pup whisper.

_Balto. What a nice name!_

"Ach, yes. Balto 'tis then!" Boris smiled.

"Balto!!"

_Oh, sweet - ... what now?_

"Balto! Get out of your dreams for ah minute an' listen to me!"

Balto shook his head, a bit disoriented. Boris could be such a pain.

He stood up and stretched himself. He had grown, and almost looked like an adult dog. He was big of stature, and his fur had gotten a darker shade of grey. By all appearances, he looked like a wolf.

_Boris, please stop shouting..._

"Ai t'ink you should go out an' get yourself ah spine!"

Balto laid his head on the floor of the boat, and put his paws over it.

"Oh, please, Boris... I just want to stay here today... Those other dogs, well... they are very annoying." He moaned.

"Noh! You cannot allow these dogs to control your life! You can not simply jus' stae in the boat, for the rest of your life?"

Boris crossed his wings, and Balto looked away.

"I know, I know. I feel you're going to say THAT old phrase again. 'The only way to get them to stop harassing you is to confront them.'" Balto groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Can't we just, like, go somewhere else than into town?"

Boris slapped his forehead and sighed.

"You really are stubborn..."

The grey wolf-dog grinned. He had won, again. Now, they were travelling to Bear Rock, his old home. He was excited; maybe his mother would be there. He wondered if she would remember him.

"Ai, Balto... Listen to me. You cannot let those dogs control you. You are stronger, you know that, noh?"

Boris poked Balto. "You, unlike them, are part wolf."

Balto shook his head, and sighed. "I know, Boris, I know... But what do you suggest I do? Bite them?"

"Yes, that might work, I t'ink." He replied, obviously being sarcastic.

Balto rolled his eyes. Boris could be such a pain sometimes. But he was his only family, and like a father to him.

The surrounding forest was almost glowing. The snow had almost completely melted, and the trees were getting their green colour back. Things were becoming more beautiful by the day. Right now, they were in an open spot of the forest, resting. Balto hadn't had a long walk like this for months, so his endurance was weakened a bit. After all, he had been nursed and taken care of for almost 6 months. He was over one year old now. The grass waved with the wind, and some small "bulbs" of glowing light slowly fell down to the ground and disappeared. Balto could remember this from his childhood; this phenomenon only happened nearby Bear Rock, but the cause of it was unknown. A common wolf legend tells that this is the place 

Alaskan wolves go to, when they are going to lay down for the final rest, and these bulbs are their spirits.

Knowing about this legend, Balto felt honoured to be watched by these spirits whenever he came here, and this was no exception.

Balto sighed... again.

"Steele!"

A black and white Malamute peered out from a box. He was a bit taller than Balto, and a bit more muscular.

"Steele! Get out of there, you wretched pup!"

The Alaskan malamute dropped his head a bit, ears lying flat, and walked reluctantly out of the box. A box, which happened to contain his owner's, now gone, dinner.

The man was named Jack Connor, and he wore a brown coat, made of leather and embroidered with fur, for warmth. He had a round face, medium-long brown hair, and a bushy beard. Long legs and Eskimo-pants only added to his already strong presence.

Steele lied down on the floor beside Jack, ears still flat, whimpering a little. He knew he'd done something wrong, but what he had done was still unclear to him.

Jack bent down and grabbed Steele by the scruff, dragging him to the box, pointing to it and shouting, before giving the Malamute a clout on his muzzle. Steele whimpered even more now, but he realized what he'd done.

"What am I going to do with you? You're never going to change, are you, Steele? Might as well just give you to the pound..." Jack sighed as he spoke, leaving the room and locking Steele into his pen.

Oh, how he hated that pen. The pen... Gee, take him to the pen! That'll make him better! Oh, come on, Jack, just put him in his pen!

_Curse them all..._

The malamute trotted restlessly around in the small pen, every step in it increasing his anger even further. Ever since his father bit a man and was put to sleep, it seemed like the humans exhausted their anger onto him. Was it because he looked so similar to his father? He did not know, nor did he care, because, like every animal trapped in the way he was, he did never allow himself to think like that. He imagined himself that the humans were almighty, controlling life and death, and that being put in this (_wretched_) pen was done to protect and enlighten him. Yet, deep down, he knew why.

"Hey, Steele! Locked you up in the pen, have they?"

Steele turned around, only to face one of his friends looking at him, seeming a bit concerned.

The Alaskan Husky was yellow-ish in colour, with a very light brown colour on his chest, a somewhat dark muzzle, peculiar markings around his eyes and a middle-long tail, which was bushy.

"Geez, Steele! What'd you do this time?" Kaltag asked the malamute.

"Who, me? You know; sneaking to myself some food..." Steele asked, trying to make it sound that he did it, very well knowing that he wasn't allowed to. He almost sounded arrogant.

"You just can't seem to stay out of trouble, eh?" Kaltag replied. His voice was a bit light and raspy, but then again... he was relatively young.

Steele put up his best fake grin. "You know me. Steele, the trouble dog."

Kaltag frowned. This wasn't the Steele he remembered from their childhood. He'd grown into something fierce; not the playful puppy he used to be. And this change worried poor Kaltag.

"Alright, Steele. Have fun, then..."

Kaltag left him, and Steele looked after him. He felt lonely, but was too proud to call the yellow husky back. The malamute whined slightly, but walked in to his doghouse and fell asleep there. The sun shined brightly, and the warm breeze lulled him into his dreams.

_Steele?_

_Yes?_

His eyes opened, and he found himself on a platform, stranded in the middle of the ocean.

_Wh – where am I?_ He yelled out, panicked.

_You are here._ A voice called back to him, though he couldn't determine where it came from.

_What 'here'?!_

_You're the one._

_Wha – _

_You have the power. Use it!_

_What power?_

_You find o-_

_What power?!_

_..._

Steele gazed towards a shadow far out on the water. I came closer to him.

_The power of good._

The shadow moved quicker, closing in. He was scared.

_The power... of control._

He couldn't stand it. The pain was unbearable. The shadow moved ever closer, ever faster. Until it came into his sight, and the shadow made a screeching sound.

Steele yelped loudly as he woke up, hurrying to his feet, only to hit the doghouse roof and fall down again.

"Wh-what was that?" he whispered. His heart pounded furiously... fear. What did that shadow mean? "Power of good" and "power of control"? He shook his head, shaking away the thoughts. It was just a dream... right?

He didn't really know it himself by then, but in his mind, he was already changing. Something instinct-like awoke in him. Steele shook his head again, and went back to sleep. There, he dreamt of a red Husky. A female...

Balto took a deep breath, and opened his eyes. He looked upon a big valley, just under Bear Rock. His old home.

He peered around, taking in every detail of the place, all of his memories coming back to him. He smiled.

"You know, Boris, this wasn't such a bad idea after all, was it?" he asked the goose beside him.

Boris simply scoffed; regardless, he was glad they took the trip after all. Maybe being here would give Balto the courage to stand up against the harassing dogs.

Shaking his head, Balto walked down to the old Den. The scents were still there, but no sign of his mother.

He decided to enter the Den.

"Boris, go home. I'll stay here for a long time, I guess, looking for my mother. I'll come back though." he said. Boris sighed.

"Alreet, but; you com' back soon, okay?" Boris replied. Balto smiled, and nodded his head.

"Of course, Boris."


End file.
